One of the changes engineers can look forward to is greater control and empowerment when 3D printers are needed. “When I was a design engineer, my job was essentially to create a design and then rely on a completely different set of resources (usually a completely different resource from my business) to create that part. This can take weeks or months, depending on what the part is and what process it's influenced by. I also remember when the reality of your job, schedule, and even cost structure was entirely up to people outside of your business and control How frustrating that was when deciding."
Lazier continued: “When you’re empowered to use a 3D device on a desk, the nature and role of that job changes. “Plus, the kind of parts you now rely on can be produced where you need them. And as an engineer, you are actually specifically involved in the creation of this part.
With 3D printing technology, designers can qualify a part from prototype to production in a design lab or geographically diverse office, and then push the design to production, where it may be used by disparate individuals across the globe. Production resources are pulled down. This process is taking place in a specific and growing set of use cases and applications, notably printers like the Markforged Digital Forge, and other cloud manufacturing capabilities.
The new role of the design engineer
With 3D printing, you have more options for how you want to do your hands-on design, depending on the company, the individuals involved in manufacturing, and the roles and responsibilities of those people.
"Before I went to college, I thought engineering would be like this, I thought I would be involved in the process of actually creating my objects. But the truth is, at least in 2015, when I started my engineering career, I really I can go to the factory and see how the parts are made. But when I'm actually doing my job, it's all behind the computer screen.
"Today, the beauty of 3D printing is that I'm sitting in a room with 3 3D printers behind me. Even though I've transitioned into a role that's not related to engineering, the process of actually creating the physical parts, and every one of them Small details, it's all under my control. And by extension, those who make great designs, create those great designs on great manufacturing platforms. Now back in reality, I have direct control over creating that section, take it off the printer, and get actual feedback on how my design works.
Challenges to Additive Manufacturing in the Supply Chain
“One of the challenges we all face now is the coordination of different supply chains. Today, the parts that can be produced by 3D printers are small but growing, at least economically and logistically feasible. The question then becomes, how do I To get this remaining part, or this component, or this add-on? We're seeing the really exciting part and trend emerging from the pandemic is that manufacturers are essentially parallelizing their supply chains, In order to provide more parts in a shorter supply chain.
"While this may be more expensive in the short term, it is ultimately more beneficial for manufacturers in the long run when they are able to more flexibly balance load, demand for specific discrete components in the supply chain, and then rely on the supply chain for flexible components like 3D printing, additive manufacturing fills the gap.
Engineers can participate in the manufacturing process. If you are a concept development engineer working on a prototype, you need to interact with people involved in mass production use cases, because you need to reflect manufacturability in the final part of the design. By contrast, if you are directly involved in the creation of these production processes, the nature of your work is on that production line.
“What we’re seeing is a trend of 910 million square feet of huge manufacturing plants that can take almost an hour to walk from one end to the other. It’s not just about whether you have a 3D printer in the plant, it’s actually about Where are you in the factory because it can take some time to get from one place to another.
“We are now seeing engineers, technicians and managers all congregating on the production line where critical components are needed, and the closer the printers are located there, the more they can bring the printers to the forefront of manufacturing challenges.”
“The biggest difference we saw was in roles and responses. I talked a lot about the shift in the individual roles and responsibilities of engineers. The roles and responsibilities of technicians also changed, where manual processes like clamping, set-up, programming, etc. Less time doing everything that needs to be done to get a successful part out of the CNC mill and more time actually building the part, managing things digitally, these people are now empowered to make for more people More parts, more problems to solve, and it's also a great transition."
Post-pandemic supply chain
Will the changes that the supply chain has experienced over the past two years continue, or will it return to the way it worked before the pandemic?
"I think over the next few years, as we transition from epidemic to epidemic, we adjust key links in the global supply chain, such as transportation, freight, warehousing, balancing and we reach a new point where we have the right resources to Solving the right problems is in manufacturing. I think we're going to see an asymptotic realignment that looks more like 2019.
“I think manufacturers will limit certain use cases where we all think parallelization and flexibility are more beneficial in terms of cost and lead time.,In the short term it may cost a little more for spools, In fact, now that people invest, you can't just throw it in the trash, like in a new factory, we're going to find new and stronger ways to use these things to make products and more flexibility, more customization , and ultimately more acceptance at the end-customer level. I think those advantages are here to stay and will continue.
"In Markforged's case, they're making very high-strength parts that have traditionally only been made out of metal, but in a way, I like the Band-Aid metaphor. I can use the printer anytime, anywhere, with the Portability, cheap, fast, and efficient solution to this problem. "I did a little science experiment a while ago. I really wanted to see if I could 3D print while driving to a client location. I'm a little nervous that I need to show them the demo part. I was living in Los Angeles at the time, and I was driving to Orange County, about two hours, along a nice, I say bumpy Interstate 5. I connected the printer to the car battery. These printers are very durable, reliable, and, to my credit, very energy efficient, throwing it in the back of my Honda Accord and printing it successfully was a real experience without any mess or hassle. Using 3D printing on the road may have a different mileage and I probably shouldn't. "
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